Thornton's Teaching Miracles Page

Monday, February 27, 2006

Call For Submissions

Call For Submissions

Are you a teacher who has experienced or witnessed a life-changing event taking place in the classroom? When you think of all the students who have entered your life, is there one special person or situation which stands out above the rest?

This is a unique opportunity to acknowledge the special event in your professional life, and to share your experiece with an appreciative audience.

Adams Media, publishers of A Cup of Comfort and The Rocking Chair series, is compiling an anthology of stories for a new book tentatively titled Teaching Miracles, to be published in late 2006. The book will contain true stories written by people of all ages—that celebrate the ability of the shared classroom experience to positively influence our lives. They are stories that show that education doesn't just come from books, and also that it's not just a one-way street, flowing from teacher to students.

Optimistic, heartfelt, and often humorous, these stories might have such themes as:

This Kid Is My Hero

A teacher discovers that one of his "troubled" students has a lot more to offer at school by finding out the amazing things he's doing at home.

What I Learned From You

Who taught what to whom, and who really learned more?

The Fringe Benefits Of Teaching

An educator teaching extension classes in writing learns first-hand about the potential for lasting and meaningful impact on a number of lives that comes along with his paycheck.

Me Gusta Educacion

An English-As-A-Second-Language teacher sees for herself what her students are up against when she visits a foreign country where she doesn't speak a word of the language.

Overcoming Your Fears

A rookie teacher comes to terms with making the call to that greatest of all classroom assets: parents!

I'm looking for concise, heartfelt stories that express what you gained from your experience in the classroom, be it a specific incident, milestone, or an ongoing process that enabled you to grow personally or professionally.

Stories should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and be approximately 500-2,000 words. Contributors whose letters are included in the book will receive a payment of $50. The author whose story is chosen as the most inspirational will receive $100. Of much greater value, our contributors will receive national writing exposure with a major publisher, a complimentary copy of the book, and bragging rights.

For guidelines and samples check out the Writing Tips and Submission Guidelines, and Story Samples sections of this blog. If you have additional questions or would like to send a submission please email me at thorntonwriter@msn.com

Sample Story

“It’s COOCHIE!” the kilt-clad, spiky-haired freak shouted from the back of my new third period English class.Titters followed close on the heels of his pronouncement.

It was my first day teaching this particular class.As expected, I was already getting an earful from one of the members of the class who was going to need particular attention.

“It says here that your name is ‘Adam,’” I said.

“I don’t go by that.”

“I see.What should I call you, again?”

“COOCHIE” threw his head back and barked out his preferred nom-de-guerre once again.Once again, his outburst brought giggles from many of the other kids in the room.

When I asked why he wished to be called “COOCHIE” (and I imitated his exaggerated manner of pronouncing his chosen moniker when I did so), he explained that it was his last name.I looked at the roster.His name read as “Adam Koetje.”He then told me in no uncertain terms, that he did not like his first name, and never went by it.

“And you pronounce it ‘coochie’?” I said.

“Yes.Coochie’s my name, and that’s what I go by.I won’t go by Adam.I don’t like that name.”

So I was faced by a pretty serious dilemma.On the one hand, knowing as I did the time-worn connotation of “coochie” as a rather unflattering reference to certain parts of female plumbing, I found the prospect of calling this kid “coochie” without bursting out laughing every time I spoke to him pretty daunting.On top of that, it was September, so I could anticipate having to refer to him in this manner for at least the next nine months.

On the other hand, if I didn’t call him “coochie” every time I spoke to him, I could likely expect more grand-standing on his part.I made up my mind on the spot that I was going to have to take this a third way.

“Wow, cool name!” I said.“Do you have a sister?”

“Coochie” and the rest of the class seemed surprised by my question.“Yes,” he said.“Two.”

“What are their names?”

“Alicia and Stephanie.”

“Nice names, but just think if your parents had been more imaginative, and called one or the other ‘Hoochie.’”The other kids in class giggled.I’m pretty sure none of them had actually heard the term “hoochie coochie” before, but them being thirteen-year-olds, and the phrase sounding nonsensical, they laughed.For his part, Adam Koetje’s expression clouded at the mention of his parents.I made a note of that.

“So maybe, Mr. Koetje-“ I began, careful to pronounce his last name the way he had, as “coochie.”

“Not ‘mister,’” he said, “Just ‘Coochie.’”

“Well, you don’t get to call me ‘Brian,’ any more than I get to call you ‘Adam,’ and since I consider calling me ‘Thornton,’ without the ‘mister’ in front of it to be disrespectful, it doesn’t seem fair for me to do that to you.See what I’m saying?”He smiled for the first time, then said that he did.I continued.

“Imagine,” I said to the class, “That Mr. Koetje grows up, graduates high school and college,”more giggles at the mention of ‘college,’ “…and gets a good paying job, finds the right gal, gets married, and has a couple of kids.’

“Now further imagine that he names her ‘Hoochie.’”More laughter from the entire class, Adam Koetje included.“And once she in turn has grown up, gone to college and found herself a good-paying job, she meets the guy of her dreams, and marries him, and let’s say that his last name is ‘Mann.”They were following me pretty closely, waiting for me to put it all together, which I did.

“And since no child of Mr. Koetje would ever be anything other than her own person, she decides to hyphenate her maiden name and her married name.This would make her ‘Hoochie Koetje-Mann.’”

They laughed again.One of the other kids in class, one who I found out later, had a father who was a lover of blues music, spoke up and said, “Hey!Isn’t that a song?”

I said it was.Kids laughed.Koetje laughed.We had a discussion about blues music, and how it helped give birth to rock, soul, funk, hip-hop, and so on.

Thus began my year-long association with Adam Koetje.I soon heard from other teachers that he could be disrespectful, that he was definitely a class clown, and that assessments of his academic ability ran the gamut from “he’s a twisted, attention-loving genius” to “I think he might be autistic.”

My own take on him was that he was quite bright, but that he lacked motivation.When I spoke to our head counselor about him, she filled in some of the blanks for me.Adam’s mother had a history of mental illness, including suffering from a form of bi-polar disorder.She also had problems with alcohol.Adam was the eldest of three children, and he took extraordinary pride in taking care of his two younger sisters.He made them breakfast and dinner, did their laundry, and most importantly got between them and their mother when she flew into one of her rages.Our head counselor had Child Protective Services on speed dial in large part because of Mr. Koetje.

On that first day, I got lucky with Adam Koetje.Because I was willing to meet him half-way on calling him by his last name, and on the pronunciation of said name (I soon learned that other teachers weren’t), and apparently because of my explanation that calling him “mister” was a sign of respect, he never again gave me cause to wonder how I was going to “handle” him.This from a kid who wore t-shirts with the logo of the teen-angst-rock band “KORN” and wore kilts to school (I later discovered that the lead singer of this band wore kilts onstage, sort of like Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses infamy).Mr. Koetje (and for me, he was always “Mr. Koetje”) must have decided that I was alright, and he treated me accordingly.

The story doesn’t end there, though.I kept hearing about this poor kid having trouble in other classes.Halfway through first quarter, our head counselor came to me and asked whether I’d like to have a student aide.

It turned out that Adam Koetjehad gotten himself kicked out of one of his elective classes, and when he and the counselor were trying to work out a schedule change, he asked about being my student aide.I told her that in light of the circumstances, I didn’t see how I could possibly refuse.

It was the best move I could have made.I’ve had a number of student aides over the years, but none worked as hard, or did more without being asked, than Adam Koetje did. In fact, on those rare occasions when I had to be out of the classroom, my substitute teachers all raved about what a terrific student aide I had, and how they wished they didn’t have wait until the end of the day to have him working for them.He even offered them assistance in his regular English class (since he now had me as his teacher twice per day).

Submission Guidelines

Submission Specifications

Payment: $50 on publication. The author whose account of their classroom experience is chosen as the most inspirational will receive $100.

Story Length: 500-2,000 words.

Point of View: First-person.

Composition Style: Written as a factual account culled from your classroom experiences. We do not publish fiction, poetry, or eulogies.

Stories must be original, true, positive, and in English.

Previously published material is acceptable—with the exception of stories that have been or will be published in a mass market anthology (print) distributed in North America.

A publishing agreement will be mailed to the Author of each story selected as a finalist.

Manuscripts are not returned.

Authors may submit multiple entries.

Formatting: all submissions to be typed, double-spaced, in either Times New Roman or Courier, Font Size 12.Donot indent for new paragraphs.(See example page for further information).

Manuscripts should be saved as a word document, attached to an email, and then sent to thorntonwriter@msn.com.Acknowledgement of receipt of your manuscript will be sent out within 48 hours of receiving it.

Remember to put your name, full address, email address, and telephone number(s) in the upper left hand corner of the first page of your manuscript when submitting. The more ways I have of contacting you, the easier it will be to let you know if you’ve made the cut!